ecoLIVING London

If you avoid the use of climate control, and are looking for ways to keep cool this summer by using food and herbs, then please read further….

London is on fire. Can cucumber and spearmint really help put out the flame? It has been a sweltering couple of weeks full of hot, sleepless nights, swollen eyelids, and compromised cognitive function. Relentless heat can do all of these things, especially when we lack AC in our homes. For some of us, this lack of climate control may be due to finances or infrastructure. For others it may be a conscious choice to conserve energy, while maintaining a sense of environmental justice (or righteousness when it’s this HOT!). Others might shun the AC for its perceived health risks (mold, bacteria, a confused immune system). Whatever the reason, those of us at the mercy of our climate have to find ways to keep cool, lest we risk death by heat stroke (or at least constant fatigue, irritability and sticky, sweaty skin).

Here are a few ways to keep cool during the dog days of summer (while saving on your utility bill):

Eat Cooling Foods. Avoid warming foods.
Both Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine describe the cooling and heating properties of food. Depending on a person’s state of health, it is important to eat foods that will counteract their imbalances. For example, chronic and acute conditions associated with “too much heat” (such as heat stroke, certain types of cancer, eczema, acne, inflammatory joint and bowel conditions), call for a diet consisting of foods that will help cool the internal workings of the body. In the absence of overt health conditions that arise from too much heat, cooling foods are also well indicated during the appropriate season (i.e. summer-time heat waves).

In general, raw foods (namely vegetables and fruits) are cooling in nature. So eat a lot of raw veggies. Two vegetables with particular cooling action, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, include cucumber and celery. Hence, the saying, “cool as a cucumber?”

If you own a juicer, then 1 whole cucumber, and 3 stalks of celery (add an apple if needed for palatability) makes for a drink that is sure to send a shiver up your spine, and all the way in to your hypothalamus (the gland responsible for regulating body temperature).

If juicing is not your thing, then consider my “Cool Cucumber, Celery and Avocado Soup” recipe.

Some warming foods to avoid during a heat wave include: too much cooked food in general, ginger, turmeric, and alcohol (sorry guys and gals, however refreshing that cold beer tastes, it actually brings heat to the liver and to the blood).

Cool Down With Cooling Herbs
Just like food, herbs can also be cooling or warming.

According to the American herbalist, Matthew Wood, plants in the rose family are cooling. While he names peach as a particularly effective cooling plant within this family, rose hips are also known for their astringent and cooling properties. They make for a great tasting, vitamin C-packed, thirst quenching iced tea too!

“Sticky Willy” or Cleavers (Galium Aparine) is another herb known for its nutritive, lymphatic and cooling properties. It is a wonderfully detoxifying herb full of chlorophyll and vitamin C. It is readily available, as it grows rampantly enough in southern Ontario to be considered invasive by many gardeners and farmers.

Spearmint, and peppermint are also considered very cooling plants. They would compliment most herbal tea blends by lending a crisp, cool and refreshing flavour.

These foods and herbs can help keep your hypothalamus happy, while helping to keep you cooler and more relaxed during the summer heat. If all else fails, there’s always the option of cooling off with a dip in the Thames…at your own risk of course.